


Moments From A Long Year

by Pandaikon0980



Category: Geek & Sundry, Sagas of Sundry, Sagas of Sundry: Dread
Genre: Alcohol, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-04 13:26:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11556126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandaikon0980/pseuds/Pandaikon0980
Summary: A series of short stories and such, set in the year after Sat, Tanner, Darby, Raina, and Kayden's fateful first trip to the woods near Black Mountain.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Guess I'm in more of a writing mood than I had originally thought, or it might be that these characters are haunting me...
> 
> Either sounds legit.
> 
> I'm not -quite- sure how many of these I might do, but I've been combing through http://daily-prompts.tumblr.com/ and have been making a list of prompts that jump out of me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where we start our descent.
> 
> \--------------------------------------------------------  
> As always, any mistakes are of my own doing as I don't have anyone modding this for me. If I find anything wrong, or it's pointed out to me, I'll fix it as quick as I can.
> 
> Comments/critiques are welcome, but certainly not required.
> 
> Hope you enjoy my ramblings!

 

**Sat and Kayden**

Was the ceiling moving or was it him?

No. It was him. Sort of. The large amount of... _whatever_ he’d taken **might** be playing a part in all this. It was supposed to make him feel light and floaty, but it was just making everything in his line of sight shift in a vaguely unsettling way, his mind feeling unpleasantly disconnected from his body. He’d thought laying down on his disheveled bed would help, and instead, he was just starting to feel mildly seasick.

The all too loud ringing of the phone on his nightstand had him blinking his eyes in confusion, the shrill peal practically reverberating in his skull. Flailing to turn over, he finally gave up and somehow managed to hook the phone cord in his fingers, dragging the plastic device to the floor with a clang. Yanking the handset up to his face by the cord, he quietly huffed out, “Hello?”

“I thought you would have called me by now.”

“I’ve been really busy.”

Sat didn’t sound like she bought it for a second. She’d always been good at reading him. He loved and hated that about her. “I really need to talk to you, Kayden,” she sounded... upset? Or maybe annoyed? He was having a hard time focusing. “No one’s **believing** me.”

No.

**No.**

He could not have this conversation. Not now. Not with anyone. He was still having to deal with disbelieving looks over his burns. His forearms were still covered in gauze to protect his scorched skin, his permanent reminder of the last time he’d spent with his only real friends. The goat-man- _thing_ haunted even his waking hours. His stomach twisted in his gut in sudden revolt and he mumbled a half-hearted excuse to his best friend before dropping the phone.

He was anything but graceful as he staggered to the bathroom to be sick. He lost track of time as he sat wedged between the tub and the toilet, his head resting against the wall in a stupor.

By the time he finally made it back to his room, Sat had hung up. The off-hook tone was buzzing obnoxiously from the handset, but he just couldn’t be bothered to hang it back up. Dropping heavily onto his bed, he stared at the phone, sounding far more tired than he could **ever** let anyone know. Not even Sat. “Sorry… Very busy. You understand… Right?"

 

**To be continued...**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt 749](http://daily-prompts.tumblr.com/post/153948906816/prompt-749)
> 
> _“I thought you would have called me by now.”_  
>  _“I’ve been really busy.”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one hurt to write. I'm sorry in advance.
> 
> \--------------------------------------------------------  
> As always, any mistakes are of my own doing as I don't have anyone modding this for me. If I find anything wrong, or it's pointed out to me, I'll fix it as quick as I can.
> 
> Comments/critiques are welcome, but certainly not required.
> 
> Hope you enjoy my ramblings!

 

**Tanner**

 

She couldn't remember a single time that she'd talked to Tanner that he hadn't been unfailingly polite and soft-spoken. That was why it always came as such a surprise that he hung out with people like Sat and Kayden. The whole punk/goth thing they had was off-putting, to say the very least. Darby seemed nice enough, but she had this air about her, like she thought she knew more than you but wasn't pointing it out to be polite. Raina looked like she **might** have been fun to hang out with but was just a little too dorky to be around for long without being tiring.

But Tanner...

He appeared shy and unassuming, and she took note of plenty of people that ignored his existence, but there was something about him that drew her attention. She thought he was the kind of guy you could take home to meet your parents, who would always remember your birthday with a thoughtful gift, would always be ready with a kind word when you were having a bad day.

And that's not even to mention his photography! She'd seen some of it posted on the wall in one of the school hallways and was instantly drawn to them. He had an eye for composition that really drew her in. A simple picture of an old, broken bottle, an battered shack with a hole where the doorknob should be, a battered street cone... Each one held a story she was interested in hearing.

And then everything changed.

One week Tanner was fine and then the next he seemed haunted by something. She saw him in passing when she had been out shopping and it first hit her that it was odd he didn't have his camera on him. It was basically a part of him so its absence was jarring. She saw him again a few weeks later, new camera in hand, but he was snapping pictures of a darkened alley as if the flash could somehow save his life. Then, just this morning, she caught sight of him having heated words with an older man she didn't recognize. She moved in closer to hear what was going on when Tanner suddenly shoved the man away, his voice rough and angry and like nothing she'd ever heard from him before, "Watch where you're fucking walking next time!"

The other man looked pissed, but also bewildered, like he wasn't completely sure how things had gotten to this point, "You're a fucking **headcase** , man! I barely touched you **and** I apologized, so fuck you!" He quickly walked off, leveling Tanner with a final glare as he left.

Tanner looked like he wanted to say or do something to the retreating man, but after a few tense seconds, he deflated, muttering something under his breath that she couldn't make out. By the time he began to walk off in the opposite direction, his head darted around occasionally, as if anticipating something jumping out at him.

With a heavy sigh, she went back to her own business, trying to push the tall, lanky teen from her thoughts with disappointment. He had seemed like such a nice guy.

 

**To be continued...**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt 874](http://daily-prompts.tumblr.com/post/161026622641/prompt-874)
> 
> _He had seemed like such a nice guy._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would have been out sooner, but technology and my forgetfulness conspired against me, AKA: I was a goober and forgot to save the first version I wrote before my laptop decided to overheat and crash, losing all my work. *facepalm*
> 
> Oh well. My laptop and I have made amends, so here's the next part!
> 
> \--------------------------------------------------------  
> As always, any mistakes are of my own doing as I don't have anyone modding this for me. If I find anything wrong, or it's pointed out to me, I'll fix it as quick as I can.
> 
> Comments/critiques are welcome, but certainly not required.
> 
> Hope you enjoy my ramblings!

**Raina and Darby**

It all started with that first lie.

"A-Are you sure, Darby? Really, I-I could stay..."

I should have told her to stay. It would have been selfish and I would have hated myself, but at least Raina would have been with me. But no, I had to go and be noble, "And miss out on art school? No. I don't want you to miss this."

So she left.

I was alone.

The first four days she was gone, I barely left my room. That Instead of dreams filled with my future with Raina, I had nightmares filled with inhuman laughter, the smell of copper, and a man with goat horns. Instead of going back to my internship, I called them and quit on the spot. I didn't have the stomach for it anymore.

Two weeks after she left, Raina called. Her cheer was a little too forced. She sounded tired, but rather than actually asking her what was wrong, I just figured it was the stress of moving away, starting a new school, _nearly being killed on a **stupid** camping trip..._ I was just so relieved to hear her voice, I didn't dare say anything that would stress her out more, "I've missed you."

"Me too! I, uh, I think I've finally gotten settled into my new room."

"That's good. do you have a roommate, or are you alone?"

I could practically see her fidget in my mind's eye as she took a beat to answer, "I had one at first, but... We decided that we weren't going to work out. D-Different schedules and stuff. So I'm on my own. If you get the chance to visit, I guess we won't have to worry about hiding around anyone."

"Heh, yeah. Guess not."

The line went silent for several long seconds, and I could hear Raina breathing and I wanted to just reach through the phone and hold her, to ask, beg her to run away with me, to leave everything else behind, forget the past. Just the two of us. But instead, when she meekly asked how I was doing, I lied again. It was easier this time, "I'm doing okay. It's just... It's not the same without you here, is all."

After another awkward fifteen minutes, we had to end the call with whispered I love you's in case anyone else was listening. My heart was aching even worse than before, and that night, the dreams became even more vibrant. However, instead of making me wake up in a blind panic, I felt... determined. I wouldn't be able to push past the memories of that camping trip unless I could understand it, turn the horror into data that could be filed and stored away. Maybe if I could do that, I could tell the others and then we could all move past it.

The day after the phone call, I made my way to the library, determined to conquer my fear.

Was I lying to myself? Maybe, but I needed to believe, because otherwise, what point was there to anything?

 

**To be continued...**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt 877](http://daily-prompts.tumblr.com/post/161164989726/prompt-877)
> 
> _It all started with that first lie._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter than I'd wanted, but I think it works. Poor Sat just had a shitty time of it.
> 
> \--------------------------------------------------------  
> As always, any mistakes are of my own doing as I don't have anyone modding this for me. If I find anything wrong, or it's pointed out to me, I'll fix it as quick as I can.
> 
> Comments/critiques are welcome, but certainly not required.
> 
> Hope you enjoy my ramblings!

 

**Sat**

 

After yet another fight with her parents, Sat tried calling her friends, but only Kayden had picked up and that "conversation" was **beyond** useless. He'd sounded winded like he was working out or something, and she _maybe_ heard someone else's voice, but before she could really think about it, he'd hung up on her with a huff, distractedly telling her he'd call back. Instead of talking to the only people that truly cared for, she quickly went through the whiskey she'd stashed in her room, drinking until everything went nice and fuzzy around the edges, except for her anger.

Head swimming with too many thoughts, Sat opened up a battered notebook on her desk that had barely survived her senior year, flipping it open to a clean page in the back. At first, her pen sketched rough outlines of shadowy figures with horns and a creepy, burnt out cabins, but soon she began to draw much more familiar things. Peoples faces slowly came to life under her fingers, but just as the four faces started to become recognizable, her vision blurred wetly. Watery splatters hitting the thin paper made the ink run, distorting the pictures into nightmarish versions of themselves. Growling in frustration, Sat angrily yanked the offending images from the notebook and threw them to the floor before going to another page. Her fingers cramped as she quickly scrawled, sniffling from time to time as she wrote:

 

** TEN THINGS I DON'T MISS ABOUT YOU **

1\. Whining about doing **awesome** stuff  
2\. Sneaking around behind my back like I didn't already know **Darby and Raina**!!!  
3\. Waiting 50 years for Tanner to get the " _right shot_ "  
4\. Not talking to me  
5\. Kayden being a dick just to be a dick  
6\. Seriously Kayden and Tanner just fucking kiss or fight already!  
7\. Talking like **normal** people  
**8\. NOT ANSWERING MY FUCKING CALLS!!!!!!!!**  
9\. Your stupid faces  
10\. The way I don't feel so alone with you

 

By the time she'd hit ten, her anger had melted and shifted into grief. Sliding from her chair, she picked up the ruined pictures of her friends and clung to them as she sobbed. Curling into a tight ball, she wept until she slowly fell asleep. By the morning, she would have a killer hangover, her limbs and back would be beyond stiff, and she'd still have a hole in her heart from her friends' avoidance, but for now, her dreams were mercifully quiet for the first time in weeks.

 

**To be continued...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt 217](http://daily-prompts.tumblr.com/post/111667321676/prompt-217)
> 
> _Ten things I don’t miss about you._


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for letting this sit for so long. I had a serious lack of motivation plus a few other things that led to this taking a hiatus. Hopefully, I'll be a bit more consistent in finishing this up. Besides, Kayden is so much fun to write for...
> 
> Also, I'm going to start putting the prompt at the end of the of the chapter as it could be a bit spoilery, and I'll change the first few chapters to match. Not a big change, but a change none the less.
> 
> EDIT: How is it I only catch half a billion mistakes AFTER I have the chapter go live? Seriously, WTF?!
> 
> \--------------------------------------------------------  
> As always, any mistakes are of my own doing as I don't have anyone modding this for me. If I find anything wrong, or it's pointed out to me, I'll fix it as quick as I can.
> 
> Comments/critiques are welcome, but certainly not required.
> 
> Hope you enjoy my ramblings!

 

**Kayden**

 

The smirk that played over Kayden's face had an almost feral appearance to it as he sat sprawled in a stiff-backed chair, holding an ice pack to his left cheek. The bruise forming there was already turning a rainbow of ugly colors. This wasn't the first time he'd found himself in the dean's office, so Kayden no longer felt the need to look around the room. Really, when you've seen one pompous administrator's office, you've seen them all. This one just happened to have even more pretentious "art" in it than most.

Seriously, most admin offices could be traded out for one another and you'd hardly notice the difference. He'd seen enough of them over the years. He felt like an expert on the subject.

The dean, whose name he never bothered to learn, finally made his grand appearance in that harried, self-important way people with an unhealthy taste for authority did, a manilla folder clenched in his arthritic fingers. Sitting at his desk, he began fiddling with things on the worn wooden surface, rearranging papers and such as if it was the single most important thing in the world. He was stalling for the dramatics of it, that much was obvious. A silent reminder that Kayden was on the dean's time schedule, not the other way around. The posturing always made Kayden's hackles rise, but today he couldn't be bothered.

It didn't matter.

None of it did.

...But he had to keep up appearances and it just wouldn't do to let this puffed up twit think he held any **real** power over him. **Fuck that!**

By the time the dean finally deigned to acknowledge him, Kayden had begun to zone out, the throbbing of his face barely dulled by the numbing cold of the melting ice pack. The smirk was still firmly in place, though. He probably smirked in his sleep. It wouldn't surprise him. Whatever expression was on Kayden's face was apparently enough to unsettle the dean. The older man cleared his throat a bit louder than was necessary, looking suddenly uncomfortable as Kayden fixed his eyes on him.

"Hello again, Dean, Sir," Kayden announced far too brightly for someone in his position ought to be.

"Kayden," he sighed, trying to sound authoritative and not quite getting there, "I'm getting tired of seeing you in this office."

The words left Kayden's mouth before he even had to think of them, his voice thick with innuendo, "I'm pretty sure there's some sort of rule against seeing you **outside** of the office, Sir."

Clearly not getting the response he was expecting, the flustered dean opened the folder in front of him and made a show of reading the handwritten report in front of him, "I've gotten Lawrence's side of the incident. Would you like to tell me your side?"

Lawrence was the kind of guy used to getting his way because his family was rich, but he'd had problems getting into other schools and so was at the same shitty art school as Kayden, hoping to do just enough to be able to transfer somewhere more prestigious. The pair had hated each other on sight. He had all of Tanner's Holier-Than-Thou attitude without any of the charm, though he **was** just as fun to rile up as Tanner. Also unlike Tanner, Lawrence cold throw a **mean** right hook. Kayden might have been impressed if he hadn't despised him so much.

"Sure." Sitting up straight, he let his hand fall away from his face so that the dean could get a really good look at the damage done. The older man winced as Kayden continued, "Larry was being a pretentious dick during class. Wouldn't shut up about the new car his daddy bought him. So after class, I let him know how I felt about it and he punched me in the face. End of story."

"Kayden, you threw a bucket of paint on his car!"

"It looks better yellow, what can I say?"

Genuine anger flared in the dean's face as he folded his hands together and leaned towards Kayden on his forearms, "This is a serious offense, Kayden."

"And this isn't?" He pointed at his face, his expression slipping into something more dangerous, "Or is it only a bad thing when the resident fuck-up does it?"

The older man at least had the nerve to look chastised for a second before saying, "Lawrence will be facing disciplinary action for his part in this."

"Guess it's a good thing I didn't have a knife, or a broken bottle, or anything like that on me, huh... Sir..." Kayden sneered, memories of fire and blood and inhuman screaming pushing themselves to the front of his mind before he could stop them, "Before anything **really** bad happened..."

The dean swallowed hard before he could weakly get out, "When all is said and done, you'll be sorry you threw that paint on his car."

" _ **Sorry?**_ I should have used something acidic, like **acid**." Kayden's smile was manic as he pushed himself to his feet, throwing the sodden ice pack across to the dean. He was satisfied when it left a long wet trail across the scattered papers before landing the with a squish in the dean's slightly trembling hands. He could hear the dean behind him attempting to call him back, but Kayden ignored him and instead spoke over him with a little waggle of his fingers, "It's been fun, but I've got shit to do. Thanks for the talk, it's been useless."

It wasn't at all a surprise when he got the letter informing him of his expulsion. It wasn't like he'd planned to go back after that.

Honestly, what use do the dead have for school anyway?

 

**To be continued...**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Prompt 239](http://daily-prompts.tumblr.com/post/114426388361/prompt-239)
> 
> _“When all is said and done, you’ll be sorry you threw that paint on his car.”_  
>  _“Sorry? I should have used something acidic, like acid.”_


End file.
